On behalf of Ahlia University, we are pleased to welcome you to our Centre for Statistical Analysis (CSA). We have exerted all our efforts to employ a variety of training courses in Data Analysis, which reflect the need of research students and faculty members to efficiently apply the various statistical methods accessible by this center.

The mission of CSA is to enhance Social Science, IT as well as Engineering research at AU by: 1) delivering training courses to train young researchers in advanced and innovative statistical research methods, 2) providing faculty and students with proper statistical advice, and 3) encouraging high-quality interdisciplinary research across the various departments and colleges. As a research support center, the CSA is a multidisciplinary center which primarily focuses on analyzing data and providing statistical consultations that are otherwise not provided by research supervisors.

The rationale behind establishing a Centre for Statistical Analysis (CSA) at AU is helping the integration of instructors and students who are distributed across various departments and colleges. As research becomes increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, a CSA is essential for providing researchers (students and instructors) with statistical advice to implement appropriate statistical methods and analyze data for their research.

We sincerely expect you will benefit from these training courses as both research students and faculty members at Ahlia University. By undertaking these courses, you will able to enhance your research experience and deal with the analysis of data employed in your articles and research studies. Thank you very much for your interest in the Center for Statistical Analysis. We look forward to cooperating with you in running this center successfully.

ABOUT CSA

The Need for a Center for Statistical Analysis

The rationale behind establishing a Center for Statistical Analysis (CSA) at AU is helping the integration of instructors and students who are distributed across various departments and colleges. As research becomes increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, a CSA is essential for providing researchers (students and instructors) with statistical advice to implement appropriate statistical methods and analyze data for their research.

The CSA at Ahlia University is compelled to show the strength of the students’ research studies to internal supervisors and faculty members as well as external examiners. Since AU does not have a statistics major and since most of the faculty members are not statisticians, a student’s supervision process requires a third party such as statistician/co-supervisor to provide the student with the proper advice in choosing the right statistical method that fits the student’s research structure. Moreover, several refereed journals have assigned statisticians to review the statistical part of submitted articles. A good number of these articles were rejected due to the weaknesses of their data analysis. Therefore, the CSA would be the right place to direct both the research projects of students and the research articles of faculty members.

AIM OF CSA

Ahlia University has recently established a Center for Statistical Analysis (CSA) to achieve its goal of becoming Bahrain’s leading research-based university. The CSA aims to advance the research skills of students who undertake courses in research methods and modelling. In addition, the center aims to give research students and faculty members training courses that would be used in their research across all colleges and departments. The main purpose of establishing the CSA is to enhance Social Science, IT as well as Engineering research at AU by delivering training courses to train young researchers in advanced and innovative statistical research methods, providing faculty and students with proper statistical advice, and encouraging high-quality interdisciplinary research across the various departments and colleges. As a research support center, the CSA is a multidisciplinary center which primarily focuses on analyzing data and providing statistical consultations that are otherwise not provided by research supervisors.

BENEFITS OF THE CSA

The scope of the CSA is directed towards the needs of the Social Science, IT and Engineering faculty members and students at Ahlia University who find it difficult to deal with the data analysis used in their articles and research studies. Consequently, the major benefits of the CSA include the following:

Facilitating collaboration across various department and colleges

At the university level, the CSA acts as a platform for collaboration across various departments and colleges. Researchers, who need to test their models, will require help from statisticians to guide them through their statistical mission. CSA will, as a result, provide them with useful training courses in this subject area.

Training for graduate students and supervisors

Another benefit of the CSA is that it would provide specialized training courses in data analysis to both students and supervisors. Moreover, graduate and postgraduate students would receive guidance in testing simple models while PhD students would be trained in the use of advanced statistics. This will enhance the reputation of Ahlia University’s research studies and research courses.

Attracting and retaining creative faculty members

Many faculty members avoid writing papers and articles due to their limited knowledge of the use of statistical methods and data analysis. The CSA will develop ongoing training courses to familiarize faculty members with the statistical tools and software necessary to undertake research.

At the beginning of each academic year, new faculty members and students will be invited to attend a seminar introducing them to the members of the CSA and the resources that could help them in developing their research. The director of the CSA will offer to meet with departments to talk about the services provided by the CSA, and solicit their feedback.

Enhancing intellectual life at the university

By building internal networks of researchers across a variety of disciplines as well as a database of published articles, the center will play a major role in enhancing the intellectual life at the university.